Hello World! I just wanted to first introduce myself to you guys (if you don't already know who I am!) and explain why I chose to turn my life around and get the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. 

My name is Kimmie and I'm 30 years old (almost 31, yuck!). I'm married to my husband Rick of 6 years and have 2 beautiful boys named Declan & Kieran. I am from Long Island, New York but currently live in Orlando and work for Walt Disney World! Just living the dream. I have a brother and a sister who are 10 and 13 years younger than me so I consider them more like my own children. I grew up living with my mother, my aunt who is 5 years older than me, and my grandmother who was more like my father. I was always a normal weight until I was 18 years old and met my husband. I was beyond in love, we went out to eat all of the time and the weight started creeping on. I met Rick when I was about 135 pounds and 5'2. 

Through the years, the weight kept coming on and I tried to get it under control by many different diets. Some worked, some didn't. The ones that did work, I never got back down to where I was and always gained the weight back plus some. I was around 180 when I got pregnant with my first son Declan and gave birth at 203. That number absolutely terrified me! I was blessed to have a good friend that also had a child around the same time and was having the same issues as me. We teamed together and committed to lose the weight! I ended up getting down to 171 lbs when we decided to start trying for child number 2! I didn't care at that point about what I was eating and went up to 181 by the time i got pregnant with Kieran. I gave birth to him at 211 lbs. Way more than what I was when I had Declan! 

With Kieran, I exclusively pumped for 5 very long and trying months and couldn't diet. I always read everywhere that breastfeeding a child made you lose the extra pounds. yeah, that didn't happen! I ended up joining Lifetime Fitness and joined their personal training programs as well as go to group fitness. I was completely addicted. I did end up getting down to 189 lbs but nothing less than that! So frustrating!! My weight kept creeping up again, especially after moving to Florida and I got to 211 lbs by the time I decided that I had enough. Nothing was working for me. I was completely miserable by my weight, my appearance and lost any bit of self esteem I had! 

I decided to make an appointment with my Primary Care Physician and we decided to do monthly weigh-ins because I knew my insurance would require it. We attempted diet pills while I decided if I was 100% on board for the surgery, and of course, lost a few pounds but that was it. Plus I HATED the way I felt on it. I felt like a meth head! My next step was to find a surgeon. This was an extremely frustrating and long process. I have GHI insurance which is fabulous in New York, but in Florida.... not so much! After about 2 months, I finally found Dr. Richard DiCiccio in Tampa and met with him. He was absolutely fabulous and reassured me this was my best option. I had to see a nutritionist, a psychologist to make sure I was mentally fit for the surgery and get an Endoscopy because I have major reflux and needed to confirm GERD. I finished up the final few months of my weigh-ins and got the approval by my Primary Care Physician AND Surgeon! The office sent my insurance company everything they needed and now was the waiting game. 

I received the call from the surgeon's office about a week later and it was approved!! I seriously couldn't believe it. I was expecting to get the surgery sometime in the beginning of the year, not 3 weeks from when they called! So my surgery is set for December 11th and I can't wait!! 

I started the 2 week Liquid Diet the day after Thanksgiving and it's been a rough road. I won't lie. I've been getting major headaches (I suffer from chronic migraines to begin with), i've felt extreme nausea, and just so tired! (Sorry friends, I don't mean to be a hermit, I just can't keep my eyes open!) This past week has been a real challenge but I know the end result will be me taking back my health and body! Oh, besides GERD, I'm also pre-diabetic so I really need to get this under control. Tomorrow is my pre-op appointment as well as weigh-in to see how my first 6 days of the liquid diet went. I'm a little nervous about it but I'm sure I'm doing fine! I'll find out the time I have to be at the hospital next week so I'm really looking forward to my appointment tomorrow. Despite my doctor being an hour and a half away, my whole experience with this office has been nothing but amazing! (www.healthyyoufl.com if you're looking for a surgeon!!) 

I can't wait to share my experiences and show my progress over the next couple of months! I will be video blogging as well, whenever I have the time. Thank you all for the support and love and understanding why I'm doing this. I'm not lazy, I've tried different types of dieting for 11 years and nothing has worked. This is what I need to do to be healthy. Until next time!